Sorelle
by jemm101
Summary: Sisters Bella and Lex Swan are forced to move in with their abusive father, Phil, after their mother and stepfather are killed. Will the Cullen family, including the newest member, Noah, be able to help them when they need it the most?
1. New Kids, Part I

_Author's Note: Thanks for checking out the story! A summary can only tell you so much, so I'm here to formally introduce you to two new characters: Lex and Noah. _

_Lex is thirteen and in the eighth grade, and is Bella's younger sister. She's more outgoing than Bella, and school doesn't come as naturally to her. She loves to be **doing** something, whether it's outside or inside. She's stubborn like Bella, and just as trusting. _

_Noah was Changed when he was fourteen years old, back in 1952 by Carlisle (more of Noah's history will show up later on), but the Cullens have him enrolled in the eighth grade as well. Like Emmett, he enjoys sports - yet like Rosalie, he wishes that he was still human. He feels both at home and left out in the Cullen family, because while they all love him dearly, he is "the little brother". _

_Do you see how things may turn out? No? I guess you'll just have to read._

**

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New Kids, Part I**

Bella's POV

Everywhere I was, I heard voices whispering.

_That's her._

_Her name is Bella._

_She's from Arizona._

_Then why is she so pale?_

It was in the front office, at my locker, in all my classes thus far. I guess that the town of Forks, Washington, was so small that any new addition to the high school population was a topic for conversation. Every time I heard myself discussed by someone new, my familiar blush found its way into my cheeks.

I had dropped Lex off at Forks Middle School at seven fifteen, and pulled up to Forks High School at seven twenty five. The school itself wasn't imposing; what had thrown me off were the students in front of it. They had been pulling up in cars, standing in groups, shouting at friends across the parking lot. My school in Arizona had held a _much_ larger student population, but I knew that everyone in Forks had probably known one another for their entire life.

I was coming in as an outsider.

_"Um, hi," I greeted the lady behind the front desk nervously. "My name is Bella Swan . . . I'm new."_

_"Oh, yes, Bella Swan. We've been expecting you," she said, and I winced. "You're Phil Dwyer's daughter, right?"_

_"One of them," I corrected her. I watched as she glanced at several papers scattered across her desk, moving coffee mugs and picture frames to get to a manila folder marked _Bella Swan._ As she read over the paper on top, her face took on a sympathetic expression._

_"So sorry to hear about your parents, dear," she said, and I winced again. I was tired of all the pity. "Thank you," I said anyways, and accepted the stack of forms and my schedule. I turned to leave, desperate to be out of the office and the now gossiping ladies. _

"_Welcome to Forks High School!" she called as I was leaving. I forced a smile at her as I pushed open the door . . . and was promptly pushed into the bustling traffic of the hallway._

Now I sat in first period, trying to look as if I was engrossed in the list of required reading for the rest of the semester, even though I had read every book on here already. The Color Purple, The Catcher in the Rye, Don Quixote . . . At least I would already have my highlighted, note-filled copies.

As more and more students filed into the room, I could feel their eyes on the back of my neck as they tried to guess who I was, where I was from.

One brave girl found her way over to the desk I had chosen, and I was immediately reminded of a terrier – one of those little dogs that were always running around and yipping in high-pitched tones. "Hi! I'm Jessica Stanley," she introduced herself. "You're Bella, right? You totally _have_ to sit at our lunch table. I can, like, introduce you to _everybody_. So, where're you from? Like, how did you end up in Forks? We're only, like, the smallest town in Washington." She gave a little laugh and then fixed her bright-eyed stare on me.

"I'm from Arizona," I answered, feeling awkward in sweater and boots next to her jean skirt and tight top. "I – my sister and I – moved into my dad's house."

"Oh, do you mean Phil Dwyer? But I heard that his ex-wife . . ." Her face changed expression as she put two-and-two together.

"Miss Stanley, please take your seat," Mr. Mason, the English teacher, drawled. He coughed into his palm. "Alright, class, everybody sit. We'll be editing our papers today on the symbolism found in Shakespeare's play _Macbeth_. I hope that everybody finished the play over the weekend . . ."

* * *

After a boring first period, I moved on to Government, and then to Trigonometry, and Spanish – with Jessica, of course. At the end of the period she offered to walk with me to the cafeteria, and I couldn't exactly say _no_ – I wasn't even sure how to get there.

Along the way, she chattered nonstop about the sports teams and various clubs and how I should "really try to get involved". "I'm, like, on the track team and cross-country, and it's, like, _so_ much fun." I didn't bother to tell her that I had two left feet and almost no hand-eye coordination.

Once we arrived at the cafeteria, I wasn't surprised at the countless pairs of eyes that were unabashedly fixed on me. I only bought an apple before following Jessica to a lunch table right in the center of the cafeteria. _Great_.

I was introduced to vaguely familiar faces, but I didn't strain myself to try and commit their names to memory. Two other girls, Lauren and Angela, and three boys, Mike, Tyler, and Eric. I couldn't help but notice that Mike was staring at me with more than interest, and I felt the warmth spread through my cheeks.

Trying to distract myself, I twisted my apple stem and looked around the cafeteria, and my eyes zeroed in on a table in the corner. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I took in the five students sitting around it, not talking and not eating.

I nudged Jessica and nodded toward the table. "Who are _they_?" I asked, and was surprised when she rolled her eyes. "Oh, Bella's spotted the Cullens," she announced to our table, and there were a few laughs. I blushed again.

There were five of them, each one different. One of the girls looked as though she could be on the cover of any men's magazine, with glossy blonde hair and a statuesque figure. The other was short and extremely thin, with dark cropped hair and pixie-like features.

There were three boys – one with an overly muscular build and dark, curly hair, the other tall, lean, and honey-blonde. However, the one who my eyes continued to dart back to was more boyish than the others, with untidy hair that could only be described as bronze-colored.

But all of their faces were somehow the same – beautiful, despite their pale complexions and dark, sleepless eyes. They didn't belong here, in this cafeteria full of plain high-school students. They belonged on the pages of magazines or paintings of the Divine.

"They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's kids," Jessica whispered, sidling in as though to get a better look. "They moved down here from Alaska about two years ago."

She used a carrot stick to point each one out individually. "The two blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale – they're twins and foster children. They have another foster kid at the middle school, Noah. Rosalie's with Emmett, the big one, and Jasper's with Alice, the short one with the spiky hair. And the last one's _Edward_." She said his name like a prayer . . . or a curse. "The last three are adopted."

"Oh," I said faintly, and went back to twisting my apple stem. Yet from time to time I would find myself looking at them. The fifty-five minutes passed all too quickly, though, and I watched them all rise gracefully from their seats and make their way out of the cafeteria. The mass of students parted for them, like the Cullens were Moses and they were the Red Sea.

Angela and I had Biology II together, and she seemed almost . . . apologetic as we walked to class. When we arrived, I realized why.

The only vacant seat was next to Edward Cullen.

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_Review!_


	2. New Kids, Part II

Lex's POV

I watched Bella drive off with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Usually I was fine in these types of situations – I usually worried about _Bella_ more than myself. Yet as dozens of kids passed me on their way into the school, I wished that I was home – just anywhere but there.

I collected my paperwork from the front office and then tried to find my homeroom. It wasn't easy, because kids were _everywhere_. They were standing by lockers and drinking from water fountains and calling to one another from across the hallway.

"Room two seventeen, room two seventeen," I muttered to myself, hunching my shoulders over as I navigated my way through the sea of students. Luckily my grey-jacket-and-jeans ensemble didn't attract too much attention.

I gave my homeroom teacher, a Ms. Long, a slip to sign, and while she searched for a pen on her extremely messy desk I couldn't help but feel like a bug under a microscope. As more and more seventh graders trooped into the classroom, they all stopped and stared at, I was sure that they had already dubbed, 'the new girl'.

"Ah, here we are," Ms. Long said, happily detracting a pen from underneath a stack of yet-to-be-graded essays. She signed my slip with a flourish and a smile and told me to take any of the empty seats.

_Where to sit?_ There was a scattering of empty desks around the classroom – one close to the door, one near the paperback-ridden bookshelf, and one by a window with a (_what do you know_) rainy view.

I placed myself in that desk and stared absentmindedly out the window, trying to ignore the pointed fingers and giggles coming from some of the girls. _Jeez, what is so funny?_ I thought, annoyed. _I know I'm new and everything, but it's not like I have three heads, or something like that_ _. . ._

Like I tended to do, I got so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't realize that someone had come over to stand by my desk. "What was that?" I asked, suddenly aware of another person sharing my personal space.

"I said, you're sitting in my desk," an amused voice said, and I looked up . . .

Into possibly the most beautiful face that I had _ever_ seen in my thirteen years of life.

He had possibly the highest cheekbones of any boy Iknew, and right now they were lifted up in a smile. He had big eyes that were the strangest color – _golden?_ – framed by lashes that were longer than mine. Light blonde hair with red highlights hung shaggily around his pale face, without a trace of blow-dryer or gel.

"Oh, sorry," I said, hastily getting up and gathering my books into my arms. A Bella-worthy blush was creeping its way onto my cheeks. I could hear the same girls now almost outright laughing at the fact that 'the new girl' was idiotic enough to sit in _his_ seat.

"No, no, it's okay," I heardhim say, and I straightened up to see him gracefully sink into the desk next to mine. At my hesitancy to sit down again, he laughed – a sound that I could only describe as captivating, flowery as that was. "Seriously, I don't mind."

At incredulous looks from our audience, I sat down and pulled out my notebook, and in a nervous habit I began to doodle.

Ms. Long, it turned out, taught History, and I found myself only half-paying attention during her lecture on the Cold War. Of course it was the middle of the second semester – Bella and I could not have come at a more inconvenient time.

I sighed. Back in Phoenix we had attended a large public school, junior-high and high- school-grades, made up of hundreds of little cliques. A person ended up knowing almost no one but those in their own social group, and personally, I had been fine with that.

But here in Forks it seemed as though everyone had grown up with one another, and they were not exactly eager to let me into their closely-knit circle.

At the end of the period I made my way to Math (my least favorite subject), Language Arts, and then a dimly lit room that was supposedly my Health classroom. While each teacher took their time signing my slip, I would find myself looking around the room, checking to see if _he_ was sitting in any of the desks. But my efforts were in vain, and I sat alone in those three periods.

At the end of Health I was taking my time as I gathered my things – lunch was next and I couldn't really be late for _that_ – when someone spoke behind me.

"You're Alexandra Swan?" A quiet voice asked, and I turned around to see a short girl with almond-shaped eyes and sleek black hair standing behind me. She was wearing a simple white button-down and black jeans, thick-framed glasses on the end of her nose.

"Yeah," I answered, smiling slightly as I stuffed my issued copy of _Tom Sawyer_ into my backpack. "Your name is . . ."

"Oh, I'm Liu," she answered. "I keep hearing people talk about you all day, and I decided that I'd be the one brave person to introduce myself."

"Well, you're the first," I told her. Then I smiled. "You don't know how nice it is to meet you."

"Do you have lunch next?" she asked hopefully. I nodded, and she smiled, showing ultra-white, if crooked, teeth. "I'd love to sit with you, if you don't mind if I eat the duckthat my mom packed me."

I shook my head, intrigued. We started walking toward the cafeteria. "So, are you from China?" I asked.

She laughed. "Good guess. My parents moved here about a year before I was born." Her face fell. "But most kids in Forks treat me like I'm an illegal immigrant or something, just because I moved here last year from San Fransisco and I didn't speak English very well. We lived in Chinatown and my parents home-schooled me."

"Trust me, I know how you feel," I told her truthfully, and hesitantly I linked my arm through hers. "How about this – we can be outsiders together."

She smiled at me and we made our way to the cafeteria, where I decided not to brave the lunch line – instead just pulling out the peanut-butter-and-jelly that I had hastily put together this morning. Liu pulled out a sandwich as well, though hers contained what looked like chicken but what she assured me was duck.

I noticed that the beautiful boy from History that morning was sitting with other boys, all wearing Forks Junior _Insert-Sport-Team-Here_ shirts. Though they were all laughing and talking, he seemed to remain silent, merely picking at his tray of food. "So," I said casually, using my sandwich to gesture at the group of boys. "Who's the guy wearing the blue button down?"

Liu only gave the table a brief glance before taking a bite out of her sandwich and chewing. "I'm sure you're referring to the one with strawberry-blonde hair and pale skin?" Her tone clearly said _oh, here we go again_.

"Yes," I answered truthfully, looking again at the table where he sat merely picking at a full lunch tray. When he lifted a bottle of purple Gatorade to his lips, I couldn't help but notice that it didn't seem as though he had actually drank any.

"His name is Noah Cullen. He's one of Dr. and Mrs. Cullens' six foster kids." She leaned in closer. "The other five go to the high school. My older brother says that they pretty much keep to themselves."

_Maybe Bella's met them,_ I thought before mentioning the Health teacher and effectively changing the subject. But throughout the rest of the period, I couldn't keep my eyes from flashing to him – Noah – every once and awhile.

That is, until he met my gaze.


End file.
